Episode 57

full
Published on:

13th Mar 2024

Social Media Tool Refresh: Canva, Grammarly, and More

Welcome to a new episode of The Circle Sessions with your host Brett Johnson and our special guest Tonnisha English-Amamoo from TJE Communications.

In this episode titled "Social Media Tools Refresh," Brett and Tonnisha dive into the ever-changing landscape of social media tools, discussing how the tools are evolving with the implementation of AI and the new features they offer.

Tonnisha shares her expertise on various tools such as Canva, Grammarly, Airtable, and email marketing platforms, shedding light on their functionalities and benefits.

From discussing scheduling tools to the importance of email marketing, this episode provides valuable insights for small businesses and podcasters to level up their social media game.

The Power of Email Marketing: "The beauty of email is that you get to directly connect with people. And when people see your name and your email come up they're they can, you know, connect with it versus I love social media, but it's so congested with so much content." — Tonnisha English-Amamoo

Top Takeaways

1. Social media tools are constantly evolving and incorporating AI to improve user experience and content creation.

2. Canva is a beloved tool for creating graphics and has integrated AI features to assist with writing and design selection.

3. Grammarly is a valuable tool for ensuring the accuracy and quality of written content, particularly in catching errors and improving consistency.

4. Tracking time spent on tasks, such as content creation and design, is crucial for efficient work management, and tools like Toggl can help with this.

5. Airtable can be utilized for content calendar planning, collaborating with clients to approve content, and organizing podcast episodes.

6. Implementing a shared calendar with your team is essential for keeping track of important dates and coordinating promotional activity for events and guests.

7. Scheduling tools like Sprout Social, Hootsuite, Buffer, and others help manage and automate social media content, but it's beneficial to consider their partnership with platforms like Meta for optimal engagement.

8. Email marketing remains highly effective for maintaining direct contact with an audience, as it offers a consistent way to connect with individuals, even when social media platforms experience downtime.

9. Leveraging website-built email marketing capabilities for selling products, merch, or exclusive content can enable seamless communication and engagement with your audience.

10. Engaging with tools and platforms for professional development, such as attending conferences or workshops, is crucial for enhancing skills and staying informed about industry trends and best practices.

Memorable Moments

00:00 Grammarly improves writing with helpful suggestions.

05:53 When should you seek professional design help?

07:29 "Dissect and reassemble Canva designs, saving time."

13:23 Airtable simplifies content planning, earns rewards.

15:49 Grandparents don't understand but technology works well.

17:30 Some social media scheduling tools may impact engagement.

21:24 Mailchimp, Constant Contact, Klaviyo, Omnisend, Shopify, Squarespace offer email marketing.

26:05 Emails: direct connection, bypasses social media congestion.

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TJE Communication’s mission is to empower and educate small women-owned businesses and equip them with digital solutions to level the playing field.

IG - @tjecomm

TW - @tjecomm

LI - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonnishaenglish/

FB - https://www.facebook.com/tjecomm

Each week, one of The Circle of Experts talks about critical aspects of growing your podcast. We focus on marketing, social media, monetization, website design, and implementation of all of these to help you make the best podcast possible.

Have a question or an idea for one of our episodes? Send us an email at podcasts@circle270media.com.

The Circle of Experts are:

Yasmine Robles from Robles Designs

Tonnisha English-Amamoo of TJE Communications

Don The Idea Guy

Brett Johnson, My Podcast Guy, from Circle270Media Podcast Consultants

Copyright 2024 Brett Johnson, My Podcast Guy

Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):

https://uppbeat.io/t/vince-mcgill/lemon-slice

License code: 2NRNUIV5VG7FU3K5

Transcript
Brett Johnson [:

Welcome to The Circle Sessions featuring The Circle Of Experts. The Circle Of Experts are Yasmine Robles from Robles Designs, Tonnisha English Amamoo of TJE Communications, and Don the Idea Guy. I'm Brett Johnson from Circle 270 Media Podcast Consultants. Each week, one of The Circle Of Experts joins me to talk about some critical aspects of recurring your podcast. We focus on marketing, social media, monetization, and website site design to help you implement all of these together. This week, Tonnisha is here from The Circle Of Experts. Tonnisha on a mission to help small businesses level the playing field through digital marketing solutions. Tonnisha, thanks for joining me again today.

Tonnisha English-Amamoo [:

Of course. Always happy to be here.

Brett Johnson [:

You know, before we jumped on, we started talking about, if if we had covered this before, social media Robles. And I I think we have, but Mhmm. They change so fast. Yeah. And the tools that are out there have actually most of them have implemented AI.

Tonnisha English-Amamoo [:

Right.

Brett Johnson [:

So it's it's really, you know, I know we have in the past, but they're they're kinda new. Yeah. And, you know, plus there are also new tools out there. So, let's go over that. Let's start, you know, it's kind of a refresh on social media tools. What do you got?

Tonnisha English-Amamoo [:

Yeah. And I guess if we couldn't really remember, then maybe we haven't talked about tools enough. I know I always talk about planning content and content calendars, but I guess, you know, it's also important to have the tools to do that.

Brett Johnson [:

Yeah. Exactly.

Tonnisha English-Amamoo [:

Okay. So so Canva is, like, a fan favorite. I think everybody loves Canva except for, like, real designers. I don't think they like it that much. But but Canva is great if you are somebody who has no idea how to use Adobe Suite like me, or you are a a solopreneur or a one person show, and you need to make graphics for your social media or your marketing or whatever that you're doing. Canva has begun to dabble into the AI world. They have, like, a write like, a writer assist. So as you're, like, making copy on different graphics, you're able to use their, like, assistant to help you, make sure that whatever you're writing is, you know, grammatically correct.

Tonnisha English-Amamoo [:

And then also, you know, you might wanna, like, freshen it up a little bit so they have that. They also are just starting to do some, like, designing with AI. I wouldn't say the that their system will completely create something for you. But if you type in keywords, it does help you to pick out templates to start with. So, that's definitely something if you're already using Canva. I highly recommend trying those out.

Brett Johnson [:

Yeah. Yeah.

Tonnisha English-Amamoo [:

Another tool that I don't think many people think about or talk about enough is a tool I use called Grammarly. So, you know, I think that no. Even the best copywriter may make a mistake from time to time. So integrating something like Grammarly into your G Suite or into your browser, So that as you're writing emails or writing social posts, just to kinda have that, you know, tap on your shoulder if you make a mistake or if there's a way to kinda rewrite something to make it, maybe more condensed, maybe straight to the point. I know that at least millennials, I think that we have the tendency to use a lot of filler words, like using the word like or literally, you know, things like that. I I just you know, they're kinda ingrained into the culture. So sometimes when you're writing, you write how you talk. But using a tool like Grammarly can help just, you know, make sure things are are nice and and put together properly.

Brett Johnson [:

The the yeah. I've got a free version of it. That free version is pretty pretty strong. Yeah. Honestly, at least it makes you think because when it highlights what's wrong or what it thinks is wrong, at least you're thinking about going, oh, well, I I really do wanna say me personally versus, like, me, and it's suggesting you don't have to be personally there. Well, if you wanna emphasize, that doesn't mean it's wrong. Exactly. It just means that, you know, maybe this is something you don't wanna consider, but it's, like, it's not a 100%.

Brett Johnson [:

I mean, in in regards to what you're thinking of doing. Now spelling and such, oh my gosh. Yeah. It's it's a it's a time saver going, oh, yeah. Duh, that's spelled wrong.

Tonnisha English-Amamoo [:

You know? Telling my husband that I struggle still to this day spelling the word restaurant because I felt like the you and restaurant, like, doesn't need to be there. Right. Right. So, you know, just to have that extra those extra eyes. And I also use the free version, and I think it's perfectly fine.

Brett Johnson [:

Yeah.

Tonnisha English-Amamoo [:

I'm sure if the free version is great, I can only imagine what the paid version is.

Brett Johnson [:

I know. I've I've not heard anybody use the paid in regards to what the benefits are. It's supposed to be you're truly, truly a writer and you need

Tonnisha English-Amamoo [:

Yeah.

Brett Johnson [:

The weather nuances it has. Yeah. I would I would I would Right. I gotta find somebody that uses it and kinda go, what's in the paid version that you really, really like? Yeah.

Tonnisha English-Amamoo [:

Yeah. Yeah. And then doubling back to Canvas. So I do have the Canvas Pro version of that because it does give you more access to different templates and elements, as well as stock images if you need them. But for the longest time, I used the free version of Canva, and it worked out perfectly fine. I'm a believer in using a tool in the free version until you can't anymore. So if you're not already in Canva, you know, I would say Guy it out. Same with Grammarly if you're not already using it.

Tonnisha English-Amamoo [:

Try it out on the free versions. And then if you feel like you need to upgrade, then, you know, you can do that later. Yeah.

Brett Johnson [:

And I know we're kinda going backwards in regards to what we just talked about, but a thought came to my mind about asking about Canva, but this may relate to other things as well too. So in your in your opinion, I mean, where is this where's the, the point where you kinda go, okay, I can't do this myself, especially with Canva creating. Like you said, most graphic art design people, visual people just hate Canva or not hate it. You know, it's one of those, hey, if they feel like they're taking business away from them. Well, you know, there is a certain point that Canva can't do it, or it's just that you need professional help with what you're creating. Mhmm. Where do you think that line might be that it's one of those whether it's just you're spending too much time on Canva and not getting it done properly or maybe maybe this is just a time thing.

Tonnisha English-Amamoo [:

Yeah. I would say a combination of spending too much time, and then also feeling like, you know, you just can't quite get it right. So I recently I think I was just having a week of burnout. This was actually last week. I had so much going on. You know, I had a new client that I was very particular about, you know, designs and, you know, a bunch of deliverables. And I I just couldn't really think in that creative mindset, but I follow a girl. I Don not know her.

Tonnisha English-Amamoo [:

She's not paying me to say this, but her her Instagram is social docs, like, d o x. Mhmm. And she sells Canva tiplets. So I'm like, you know what, I'm going to go see what she has and I can like buy one of her packages

Brett Johnson [:

and

Tonnisha English-Amamoo [:

then pick it apart, which is what I do with Canva anyway. Like I never pick a design and like, that's the design. If it has elements that I like, I'll take it, pick it apart. I may find like 3 templates that I like take it apart, put things together. So that's what I did. I spent like, I think it was like $50 on a couple templates that she had, got them, picked them apart, and then was able to do what I needed to do because I was spending way too much time trying to create. And I do track my time in a tool called, toggle, which is not on the list that I had, but this is an important tool. It's T O G G L.

Tonnisha English-Amamoo [:

And I use the free version of that for about 4 years. I think last year was when I started to pay for it because it helps me to track if clients get, like, 15 hours a month for me. If I'm getting close to that threshold, I can get an alert versus me having to, like, manually keep track of that. And so in toggle, I'm able to see how much time I'm spending on particular tasks. You can do it per client or per project. And I was just spending maybe like at least 2 or 3 hours working on these designs. And I had plenty of other stuff to do. So I was able to look at that and say, okay, we're spending too much time here.

Tonnisha English-Amamoo [:

What can we do? It's either you pay somebody to do it, or maybe you can, you know, buy some templates from somebody. There's a ton of people that do that. And then, you know, take it and pick it apart and do something different. But I know what my limitations are. Like I tell clients, like I can do social media. That's my thing.

Brett Johnson [:

Doing anything beyond that is not quite my skillset. So you

Tonnisha English-Amamoo [:

may need to hire, know what fonts go together.

Brett Johnson [:

You

Tonnisha English-Amamoo [:

know, that's not that's that's not my thing. So, yeah, thinking about what your strengths are, and then also making sure you're not spending too much time because you could be doing other stuff. You could be recording your podcast. You could be reaching out to potential, you know, guests Don the show. You could be promoting the show instead of, you know, spending time making graphics.

Brett Johnson [:

Right. Yeah. My my fault is I I I will definitely go into different apps and kinda go, that would be cool. I could do that, and it's totally out of my wheelhouse. But it's like, this app can make it really simple, and it has a lifetime deal that I could probably do in this. I've I've bought some and backed out in their 60 day window so many times. I don't know why I don't learn my lesson.

Tonnisha English-Amamoo [:

But, you

Brett Johnson [:

know, going to your go into your toggle idea, what came to my mind is that we always are looking at what I call womb, my womb day. I work on my business day or work on your podcast day, whatever it might be. That could be a really great tool to make sure that you're marking how much time you are working on yourself, on your podcast Yeah. That you could look at a week after week going, okay. Oh, I mean, I spent 1 hour on my podcast this week. That's not enough. Mhmm. Or your business card might be, Toggl could actually work for yourself as well with

Tonnisha English-Amamoo [:

the filters.

Brett Johnson [:

I I'm gonna have to try that because I know I don't put enough time in. I know I don't.

Tonnisha English-Amamoo [:

Oh, yeah. I track work for myself. Like, even right now, I always track the pod podcast as, like, professional development. Yeah. Or, you know, when we're doing stuff for the chamber, I, you know, tag it as volunteer work. Right. So, you know, that's what I was talking to, Sierra, who's new to the board, my account in 2 Shea Financial Solutions. I was talking about how I realized I haven't been spending enough time on professional development, and was able to justify that by looking at Toggl to see that in the last 6 months, I haven't done any professional development.

Tonnisha English-Amamoo [:

Haven't really attended, like, any conferences that, like, pertaining to marketing or enhancing my skill set. So I've been spending some time, you know, looking at different things. Actually, Canva is going to be having a conference, I think in Guy, I think it's in Hollywood, but you can attend virtually, but you only get to see the keynote speaker virtually for free. But if you just so happen to be in California or plan to go, it's only $95 to attend the whole Guy. Oh, wow. And I believe when I was looking at it, they're Don to have some kind of like hands on like, you know, teaching different tips and tricks with Canva. So

Brett Johnson [:

Nice. Yeah.

Tonnisha English-Amamoo [:

Yeah. That's is great. I use it for my self and clients too.

Brett Johnson [:

Yeah. Yeah. That's good. Great. I mean, I know and it falls right in the social media Robles, quite frankly.

Tonnisha English-Amamoo [:

It just does. It it does. Yeah.

Brett Johnson [:

Even even though we're kinda taking little bit of sidebar, but tools are tools. Yeah. Things onto it. What else do you have what exactly. What what else do you have on your list?

Tonnisha English-Amamoo [:

Yeah. So another, tool I have on my list is called Airtable, which I may have talked about before. So you can actually use Airtable in so many different ways. I've seen people use it, almost like Google forms kinda style. I use it for content calendars. Okay. And so, essentially, what I do is build out the calendar, and then there's a way for clients to go in and approve, not approve, or give me notes about different content that I'm creating before it gets scheduled to social media. And that's something that if you're working on a team that you and your other host or people that you're working with can kinda collaborate on when it comes to content, and that's what helps me plan out content calendars.

Tonnisha English-Amamoo [:

Now you can, which I have in the past, create a content calendar using, like, a Google Sheet or or, like, a, you know, a Excel sheet is something that you can do as well. But Airtable kinda does the work for you so you don't have to, you know, worry about all the different functions for the sales to make sure that it's all up to date. But Airtable can also be used to help plan your podcast episodes. There's many different, forms or, I guess, templates that have in Airtable, and I've only been using it one way. I also use the free version. Mhmm. And every time you invite somebody to an Airtable workspace, I think you earn, like, $10 rewards. So I have, like, 100 of dollars in, like, rewards.

Tonnisha English-Amamoo [:

So I've been thinking about, okay, maybe I should just upgrade for a little bit until it runs out just to see if it's worth it because I've been using it for so long. Right. But yeah, air table highly recommend checking that one out. And I think you can, you can integrate it with like your Google Drive

Brett Johnson [:

Okay.

Tonnisha English-Amamoo [:

With Canva to pull in designs as well. So love Airtable. I've been using it for at least 4 years now.

Brett Johnson [:

Wow. Okay.

Tonnisha English-Amamoo [:

Another tool that I had, which I guess could also fall into Airtable if you're able to, you know, figure that out is a shared calendar between you and your team. So this may be helpful just to keep track of important dates.

Brett Johnson [:

Yeah.

Tonnisha English-Amamoo [:

So if you know that let you know, we have a, a guest coming next week and keeping track of, like, here's when the guest is coming. Building up to them coming, how do we wanna promote that? So just to help keep everybody on the same page, to be aware when important dates are coming up so that you can make sure you're you get a chance to promote those on social media.

Brett Johnson [:

Right. Right. Exactly. Yeah. And what I like about everything we've talked about so far is that it's all cloud based. You don't have to really download anything to take a drain on your on your on your computer, which is really nice because you're you're doing too you know, you've got enough on your on on on your unit as it is probably that it's it's nice to have that cloud option that is just running in the background kind of that it's not that much of a drain on your computer.

Tonnisha English-Amamoo [:

Yeah. It's so funny with with my grandparents. They I I don't think they still quite know what I do, but they'll ask questions because I, you know, I just have my laptop or my phone. My grandpa was like, you don't have a drive, like an external drive? Like, if I lost my computer today and I go buy a new one, I could still do what I need to do because everything is just in the cloud. Now that could be a good thing, could be a bad thing if, you know, we go back to my fear of AI. But as of right now, it's it's working out because everything is just in its own world, and I can get into it and connect things to each other just to make everything work seamlessly.

Brett Johnson [:

Yeah. Yeah. I know the first time, wind of getting, an Imac years ago. Mhmm. My my dad saw the computer. He's like, Where's the tower? I said, It's in this it's it's in the screen. He said, No way. I said, Yeah.

Brett Johnson [:

Yeah. Yeah. It's actually more power, you know, it to a certain degree is more powerful than a lot of towers are. You know, that's where it's like. Mhmm. Yeah. It's just, it's eye opening.

Tonnisha English-Amamoo [:

Eye opening. Yeah. For sure.

Brett Johnson [:

For sure. Yeah. Yeah. You Guy anything else on your list?

Tonnisha English-Amamoo [:

Yes. We have 2 more things. So the next thing is gonna be a scheduling tool. Now I, shameless plug, I use Sprout Social. I'm an agency partner. So I'm all about Sprout, but they're also also Hootsuite, which I think most people have heard of. Buffer is another great tool. So when I was first starting my business and, you know, working on $0, I used buffer because it was free at the time.

Tonnisha English-Amamoo [:

I don't know. I think it's, like, $8 now, to start. It was free at the time, and it was a way to just be able to do the basics of scheduling content. And now Facebook and Instagram, you know, are offering this is nice, so you don't have to use any third parties. And then later.com is another great one. I will say when when thinking about social media scheduling tools, there are some tools that have this, like, quote, unquote partnership with Meta and everybody else and some that don't. The ones that don't, I do notice that when you are using the 3rd party to schedule content, engagement may not be as much as if you're using a partner, scheduling tool or, of course, if you're using the meta scheduling tools, like, you're totally fine.

Brett Johnson [:

So how do you know how do you know they're a partner? Where do you look on those

Tonnisha English-Amamoo [:

on those websites to make

Brett Johnson [:

sure they are?

Tonnisha English-Amamoo [:

Yeah. So if you go through, like, usually their, like, about section and kinda read through the lines, you may be able to tell. But, also, especially like Sprout Social, it's not a cheap tool. It's it's a pretty costly tool. I would have those conversations. I would set up demos, which I'm I know you can definitely do for Hoot suites Sprout and probably even the other ones where you set up a demo call, where you'll get on, like, a Zoom, and they'll actually walk you through the platform. And I would ask those Sessions. Just straight up ask them, and and, you know, hopefully, they'll they'll be able to tell you, if they're partners

Brett Johnson [:

or not. Yeah. Okay. Good. And I know, like, that's a great head that's a great heads up. Oh Guy gosh. Yeah. Yeah.

Tonnisha English-Amamoo [:

The ones that have been around for a while are usually already, like, in in the clear there. Yeah. But some of the newer ones, you just gotta be careful.

Brett Johnson [:

Yeah. Yeah. I just gonna ask you that question whether do you see you being throttled basically if you don't use anything outside of Meta's dashboard. You know, the the the business suite, at least for the Facebook and Instagram. But if if it's a partner, then it pretty much answers that question. Okay.

Tonnisha English-Amamoo [:

Yeah. If it's a partner, it's better. But if you're using Meta, it's the best.

Brett Johnson [:

Of course.

Tonnisha English-Amamoo [:

They they prioritize, their tools and all their stuff. They're gonna be, you know, making sure those things get priority. And then posting natively, if you have time Mhmm. Which, you know, natively, for those who don't know, means, like, you know, literally open look at me. I said literally, we talked about Grammarly earlier. But if you I'm a millennial. I'm a millennial. Sorry.

Brett Johnson [:

But the but the literally right there was perfect for it.

Tonnisha English-Amamoo [:

That that's right.

Brett Johnson [:

That's that's where you use it. Yeah. Yeah.

Tonnisha English-Amamoo [:

But if you open Instagram and post right there from the app or open Facebook and post right there from the app, that's considered a native post. And those typically perform better as well.

Brett Johnson [:

Yeah. Makes sense. That makes sense. Yeah. Exactly.

Tonnisha English-Amamoo [:

Yeah. And then lastly, everybody forgets about email, but email marketing truly has the highest return on investment than any other marketing tactic out there because it allows you to have that direct contact with your people. SMS, I would argue, is probably 2nd best. The only thing with SMS is that those messages have to be super condensed and to the point. You don't really get a chance to send, like, a full message. And then also some people hate getting marketed text messages, 1,000,000,000 people in the world, like, on average, people

Brett Johnson [:

have at

Tonnisha English-Amamoo [:

least 1,000,000,000 people in the world, like, on average, people have at least 2 email addresses.

Brett Johnson [:

Wow.

Tonnisha English-Amamoo [:

Yeah. So definitely email. I use Mailchimp. I'm also a Mailchimp partner, so that's a shameless plug. But I have used Constant Contact, which is great. Klaviyo or Klaviyo is another tool that or another email marketing platform that's great. And Omnisend is another one. Now if you have, like, a website built through, like, Shopify or Squarespace, those platforms have email marketing capabilities built into the websites, which are also great because, you know, if people are buying stuff, like, if you have merch, like, I know a lot of podcasts have merch, and accessories and things like that or exclusive content.

Tonnisha English-Amamoo [:

You can sell those through your website and then automatically trigger people into email campaigns directly from your website. Yeah.

Brett Johnson [:

Yeah. No. That's super. Those are some great options. Yeah. Because I know everybody's really pretty familiar with Mailchimp and Constant Contact.

Tonnisha English-Amamoo [:

But Yeah.

Brett Johnson [:

They all seem to be kind of the same kind of. I mean, they they all have

Tonnisha English-Amamoo [:

to look, but

Brett Johnson [:

but it comes Don to price point or if you're used to, you know, that look, then, yeah, go for for it. Mhmm. But but I agree.

Tonnisha English-Amamoo [:

It truly comes down down to the price. Mailchimp through the years have made a lot of adjustments, to their pricing. You know, what's okay or allowed in the free version versus, like, now you have to pay for things that used to be free. So I would recommend shopping around. Generally, when you log into these tools on the back end, the way that it works is pretty much the same.

Brett Johnson [:

Yeah. Yeah.

Tonnisha English-Amamoo [:

There's not, you know, too much of a difference. The in the past, I actually left Mailchimp to go to another great tool called ActiveCampaign Mhmm. Because it could do things that at the time Mailchimp could not do. And then I later went back to Mailchimp because that's what most of my clients were using, so it was easier to, you know, be able to switch back and forth between everybody's accounts versus, you know, having the logins, different stuff. But Yeah. Yeah. Mhmm.

Brett Johnson [:

Yeah. Well, I could see that too if you're working with with a variety of people that have the same platform. It's just easier to get your mindset. It's like a mind shift to kinda go into constant contact. It's, Oh, wait a minute. That's not there. That's here at Yale for for a membership

Tonnisha English-Amamoo [:

and such.

Brett Johnson [:

So it makes it easier. I could see that, you know, especially if you're Yeah. Working with a couple of different podcasts and, you know, that sort of thing to do. Mhmm. You know, I I agree that they I I up until, you know, I I started, you know, doing this consultancy for for podcasting and stuff, I really wasn't a big email fan. I didn't get it. And walking into it now, it's like, yeah. It may be one of the few grounds, a few opportunities to own your audience without somebody taking care of it from you.

Brett Johnson [:

You know?

Tonnisha English-Amamoo [:

That I mean, even today, like, we're recording this on today's March 5th.

Brett Johnson [:

Mhmm. And I

Tonnisha English-Amamoo [:

don't know if you noticed, but earlier today, Facebook and Instagram went down for, like, half the day.

Brett Johnson [:

I heard I heard that. Yeah. So Yeah. Therefore, you have no access. You can't post. You can't do anything. Mhmm. You can't do anything.

Brett Johnson [:

I mean, of course, email and email newsletter, of course, email can go down. Google can go down and such, but more than likely not. Yeah. You know? Yeah. The the the it's it's just it it it probably works in your favor not to, you know, rely on that. But, no, I agree that that that was email addresses are especially when you see the open rates. When you have when you finally create content Mhmm. That that people open up and wanna read and you see the click throughs.

Brett Johnson [:

My wife is always amazed when she sends her emails Don. She she loves watching the analytics in the background going, oh my gosh. You know, within 15 minutes, half half of them have opened already. You know, she's just I'm seeing that, you know, she's this is so weird big brother.

Tonnisha English-Amamoo [:

Showed her where she can see how many times each person has opened? Then she'll really get a kick out of that.

Brett Johnson [:

Yeah. I haven't opened that up yet. She just loves the numbers because I said, you know, it's it's usually in the 50, 60 percent range that open it up.

Tonnisha English-Amamoo [:

That's awesome.

Brett Johnson [:

And I said, yeah, Don, you're doing great. I mean Yeah. You know, that's way above average that Way above. You're creating content that people are, number 1, opening up quickly that they see it come through and they're saying, oh, yeah. I wanna see that what what's coming from you. And that they're reading it and use that sort of thing. After a while, we'll get in the nitty gritty about, like, the click through rate and where they're going and stuffing. And I think she'll see Yeah.

Brett Johnson [:

You know, what I thought, make some better content on those news newsletters that she sees that, you know, that there is a click through option

Tonnisha English-Amamoo [:

as well as just promotion. The beauty of email is that you get to directly connect with people. And when people see your name and your email come up they're they can, you know, connect with it versus I love social media, but it's so congested with so much content. The algorithm is always changing as we all know. There's a lot of, like, pay to play going on that, you know, people who may love you may not see your content on social media, but they'll probably see it in email and be able to stay in the know, stay up to date on all the things that you have going on because you're sending those emails out. So that's great.

Brett Johnson [:

Especially if it's timely information that you just you know, if something's happening in a couple of days, and you see it in your own social media feed too that, wait a minute. I'm connected to this company, this person, and they sent this out 3 days ago. And it's saying happen tomorrow. So it can happen to you as a podcast or as a business owner of sending a you know, relying on social Idea. Just because you put it out there doesn't mean that people are seeing it that day. So Exactly. It's it's it's tough. It's it's tough.

Brett Johnson [:

Exactly. Now this is a great list. So if, if anybody has any questions or maybe other suggestions or just wanna talk to you about, hey. How do you use Airtable? You know, you know, kinda pick your brain about with doing some of those things. How can they get a hold of you?

Tonnisha English-Amamoo [:

Yes. You can go to my website, tjecommunications.com, and sign up for a free 15 minute consultation. I do them every Tuesday, so just pick a time and we can chat. And I'm also all over social media as tjecom, c o m m.

Brett Johnson [:

Super. Yeah. If you wanna connect with me, wanna talk about any of this, especially your podcast, you can, get my calendar at Circle Sessions Idea podcast consultants. That website is circle 270media.com. I'm on social as well too. Facebook, Circle Sessions Media, LinkedIn. You can look under, Brett h Johnson, actually, but, you know, that, I'm there. If you you you you punch in Circle 270 Media on LinkedIn, it's gonna pop up.

Brett Johnson [:

So connect with me anywhere. But, yeah, for sure, head to, Circle 270media.com is the best place for me. And thanks again, Tanisha. Can't wait for the next episode.

Tonnisha English-Amamoo [:

Of course. Thank you.

Show artwork for The Circle Sessions

About the Podcast

The Circle Sessions
Weekly strategies to grow your podcast
Each week, one of The Circle of Experts talks about critical aspects of growing your podcast. We focus on marketing, social media, monetization, and website design, and the implementation of all of these.
The Circle of Experts includes
*Yasmine Robles from Robles Designs;
*Tonnisha English-Amamoo of TJE Communications;
*Don The Idea Guy; and
*Brett Johnson, My Podcast Guy from Circle270Media Podcast Consultants.